On Maine lakes and ponds

One of the best things about the summer that’s just coming to a close is all the times that Margaret and I have been able to kayak on various lakes and ponds in Maine. The kayak is a perfect platform for photography. You can get close to shore, and you can skim into shallow inlets where there are all kinds of things to photograph. Once you get away from the more heavily populated areas, with their motor boats and jet skis, a wholly different world opens up–the world of nature itself, with its own rhythms and beauties. It’s very easy in my world of meetings and schedules and deadlines and superhighways and my suburban lawn to forget the fact that nature goes on with rules all its own somewhere out there beyond the glow of my back porch light. In the course of our many expeditions, we have seen numerous loons, an eagle, a great blue heron, several large snapping turtles, a water snake (yikes!), and a moose (up very close–Margaret got good pictures). But the thing I kept coming back to was the richness of the plant life, both in the water and in the places where the forest came down to the shores. Here are just a few of the many pictures I assembled over the past two months. For all these photos I used a Panasonic TS1, a tiny,weatherproof camera that fits easily into the pocket of my life jacket. Reviewers always seem to praise its weatherproof qualities above its ability to take sharp, clear pictures, but I have actually found it to be somewhat extraordinary and have made some rather striking 20x24s and 11x17s with it.

Very nice. I’ve turned my camera on Maine quite a lot, but avoid the landscape images. It’s a challenge to make an image that is not a cliche in Maine, the placing being such a visual destination for so many for so long. You’ve pulled it off, however. These are lovely images, fresh and original. Well done.

Thanks very much for you kind comment. Maine is hard to work with. As you say, there are so many “easy” shots that have been seen and recorded time and time again. I’ve been lucky to find a subject that allows me to get at what I see as the real essence of Maine. It’s a privilege for which I am most grateful.

“The House I Live In” is also very interesting, and I will be sure to check in from time to time.